Please join us on the 2nd Thursday in January of the new calendar year, for a Commons meeting and social gathering! Meet your new officers, hear inspiring words from our new Seneschal, Lady Vika Grigina z Prahy, and talk about the future of our canton under new direction.

After the Commons, relax and enjoy the company of your fellow members. You are welcome to bring a project you are working on, socialize, eat, enjoy!

During this portion of the evening, Lady Vika will be lending us her expertise in fitting. If you have a yen to be measured, pray attend. She will have handouts with measurements to be recorded, and measuring tapes to go around. If you need new garb, now is an excellent opportunity to improve its fit, whether you are interested in the simplicity of a rectangularly constructed tunic, or leaning towards a fitted kirtle.

Barley stew, both with and without pork, for dinner, with oatcakes, a simple salad, and berries with cream for dessert. The finest Iron Age cuisine to be had in the 21st Century.

Please join us this Thursday, December 15th, at our usual time (7:30pm) and place, 255 W. 105th St, #21 to practice Medieval Bookbinding!

This is a class on the basic principles of medieval bookbinding, as taught to Lady Beatrice della Rocca by Lady Linden le Bukere at this past Pennsic. We will be binding sections of pages together onto a harder paper cover. We will be using modern materials to save cost. At the end of the class, everyone should have a little book to take home with them. All materials will be provided.

Dinner will be mushroom barley stew — one pot with pork and another without. Then fruit with cream for dessert. Basically a reprise of last winter’s Iron Age feast. Because YUM!

[Update, Dec 15:] Lady Alienor is fighting off a cold and has spent most of the day in bed rather than preparing the promised stew, so we’re going to have to settle for fancy pizza instead. Maybe next time! —Mathghamhain

For the convenience of our hosts, we are moving the Evenings in the Solar, our Arts & Sciences social gathering (and occasional business meeting) to the second Thursday of each month. As always, gatherings will be confirmed via an announcement on this website, as well as in email to the canton mailing list, and by post to the canton Facebook group.

Our next Solar will therefore be December 14th. We will be holding a book-binding party. Lady Angelica di Nova Lipa has provided us with quantities of lovely paper, which we will stitch into signatures under the instruction of Lady Beatrice, who studied bookbinding at Pennsic University this summer.

We had SO MANY VOLUNTEERS at our Cloisters demo at the Fort Tryon Park Medieval Festival the first weekend in October! I have been compiling this list ever since, and even then I know I am missing some people. Please forgive any omissions! You’ll notice I have also failed to record all the jobs people did — because everyone was hustling so hard! And our demo was HUGE. We collected almost 80?? new e-mail addresses from people interested in our activities.

Here are the 73!!! people who turned out and pitched in. Please correct any misspellings or titles — I checked the heraldic registry and the order of precedence where available, but those don’t necessarily list preferred spellings and have some omissions.

Please join us next Thursday, October 19th, from 7:30pm – 10pm in our usual location for a weaving workshop led by Lady Angelica.

We will also review the final schedule for our Schola in the Solar, coming up Saturday, October 28th. Please publicize the schola!!

For dinner, we will probably be offering a mushroom sauce pasta, with salad. There *might* be fruit tarts from Veniero’s.

Contributions of bread would be helpful. Also wine. Please comment on the post re: menu on the canton’s Facebook page or here if you know what are you bringing, so we can avoid tripling up on things. 🙂

Come spend a pleasant Saturday afternoon immersed in arts & sciences classes in a gracious Upper West Side living room. Gate opens at 9:15!

There will be a dayboard and lunch interval with meats, soups, salads, and savory tarts, including vegetarian options (menu below). All ingredients will be labeled. Please alert the autocrat if you have other food needs.

There is no site fee. We will be soliciting an OPTIONAL donation to cover food costs. There is no deadline to reserve, however you MUST RSVP by emailing the autocrat, Lady Godiva de la Mer, at moas@whytwhey.eastkingdom.org. Site space is limited to 30 people.

Changing rooms will be available. Newcomers may borrow “Gold Key” loaner garb for the day by advance arrangement with the chatelaine, Lady Angelica di Nova Lipa, at chatelaine@whytwhey.eastkingdom.org.

Class Schedule

10:00

Flat Gilding
(2 hours)

Heraldic Registration Basics

11:00

Stitch’n’Fix

12:00

Lunch setup

3:1 Twill Tablet Weaving

1:00

— LUNCH —

2:00

Wire Rings

Basic Knitting

3:00

Mead

Florentine Flame Stitch

4:00

Armorial Display

Slung

10-5

Weaving Practicum (on-going)

Class Descriptions

Our eleven classes will cover a broad spectrum of arts & sciences.

Illumination

Flat Gilding
In this class will be taught both modern and period methods, materials and techniques for flat gilding. We will try various gilding bases on a variety of surfaces with the goal of using this technique on SCA scrolls. Please bring a pencil, eraser, ruler and a small round brush. There is a $5 material fee. 10 kits will be available.Instructor: Il-Khatun Lada MonguliginDuration: 2 hours

Needle Work

Basic Knitting
Learn to knit, or get a refresher course in the basics. Kits will be provided.Instructor: CaitlinDuration: 1 hour

Florentine Flame Stitch: Before & Beyond…
Needlework class focusing on the Florentine Flame Stitch, its history and creation. Do you like to color? Then come and learn how to color with yarn and MAKE A THING! A tiny pin cushion will be created using the flame stitch or its derivatives. No prior needlework experience necessary. Supplies & materials will be provided.Instructor: Lady Godiva de la MerDuration: 1 hour

“Stitch n’ Fix” workshop (open to ALL LEVELS)
This workshop is designed to bring crafters of ALL LEVELS and skills together in an effort to problem solve on any projects that are giving them grief. Participants are encouraged to bring any projects on their list, either a “UFO” (Un-Finished-Project), a “PHD” (Project-Half-Done) or their “DOS” (Darn Overs). Printed references for knitting, sewing and crocheting will also be available for perusing.Instructor: CaitlinDuration: 1 hour

Brewing

Introduction to Mead
A brief survey of the history of mead and its use in period, and a hands-on demonstration of the production of a basic mead.Instructor: Lord Þórfinn HróðgeirssonDuration: 1 hour

Weaving Practicum
A hands-on survey of common weaving devices, with hands-on instruction in inkle, framed rigid heddle and 8-shaft table loom. Make your own rigid heddles to take home. Material fee donations accepted, to be split between fencing loaner gear and the Østgarðr coronet fund.Instructor: Lady Angelica Di Nova LipaDuration: Ongoing: drop-in when equipment is available, weave as long as you like

Metalwork

Creating Simple Wire Rings
Simple wire rings are easy to make and common in period, especially early period. I’ll be teaching a few different designs, and providing the materials (copper wire) and tools. Most designs can be made with just a large dowel and your fingers.Instructor: Anneke ValmarsdotterDuration: 1 hour

Heraldry

Heraldic Registration Basics (this is a GREAT class for NEWCOMERS)
Finding an historically-accurate name & unique coat of arms can be a fun part of getting involved in the SCA. Get an overview of the jargon, the registration process and timeline. Learn a few visual elements that match your persona’s time and place, then talk about how to work with a herald (locally or on Facebook) to nail down the details and move forward with a submission.Instructor: Bóaire Mathghamhain Ua RuadháinDuration: 1 hour

Armorial Display Options
So, you’ve registered a device, but do you ever show it off? Review different places your arms and badges can be displayed (banners, armor, clothing, favors, camp fabrics, other possessions) and multiple ways of making them (sewing, painting, printing, etc.) then brainstorm how you will make your armory more visible.Instructor: Bóaire Mathghamhain Ua RuadháinDuration: 1 hour

Parking near Fort Tryon park for the Cloisters demo is a challenge. If at all possible, you are better off taking public transit to the site.

If, however, you are one of the people loading in equipment, then here is what you need to know to park on the day.

You do NOT need a parking pass to drive your vehicle on & off site at the beginning and end of the day. The parking pass also does not guarantee you a spot. It simply allows you to look for parking in the cordoned-off parking area at the head of Cabrini Blvd. (or in an internal parking lot, depending on where we are assigned by the festival coordinator).

If you are delayed in transit, and arrive after 10am, you will not be able to drive your car into the park. Instead, find parking and haul your stuff in manually. If you need unloading assistance, come to our demo location and ask for help — we will have wheeled carts that we have used to lug stuff onsite, which you may borrow.

With a parking pass

If you have previously arranged a parking pass with the demo coordinator seneschal at whytwhey.eastkingdom.org, then you arrive at the south entrance to the park at 9:30am to check in with the festival coordinator and receive your parking pass. The park opens before 9:30, and I encourage you to unload before checking in, if possible! Cars must be headed to parking by 10am, to clear the park for opening to the public around 11am.

Without a parking pass

Once you have unloaded your vehicle, you may drive off to find parking, either at a garage or on the street. Parking nearby fills up quickly, but if you are early you may be able to find something. Here is a map of nearby parking garages: Parking garages near Fort Tryon Park

Parking garage #3 is not as useful as it appears in this aerial view, because you are walking straight up a hill (almost a cliff) to get into the park. The terrain is not your friend.

Post-demo loading

Cars will be allowed back into the park when the police indicate that it is safe to do so. We must wait for the public to walk out before we start driving in. The festival ends at 6pm. It takes time for 60,000 people to exit the very large park.

There is ALWAYS a traffic jam of entering vehicles. We are conveniently located just inside the south entrance, which eases our loading. Please take care not to block the roadway for others who are attempting to drive further into the park.

The easiest way to get to the Cloisters demo, mundanely known as the Medieval Festival at Fort Tryon Park, is to take the subway.

The 190th St. Station on the “A” train sits immediately outside of Fort Tryon Park, and this is the way most of our participants arrive. (It’s also the way many of the other 50,000 attendees will arrive, so the elevator up from the subway to the park can be fairly crowded, but that only takes a few minutes.)

For those coming from outside the city via Amtrak, NJ Transit, or regional bus, you can board the A train at Penn Station or the Port Authority bus terminal; from MetroNorth or LIRR take the Shuttle from Grand Central to Times Square to connect to the A train.

Driving & Parking

Obviously the train is not going to make sense for folks who are lugging lots of gear or heavy equipment, and this particular train station is not wheelchair-accessible, so in those cases driving to the site is worth the hassle.

We’re able to wrangle a limited number of parking passes from the event organizers, but be prepared for delays getting on and off site, because it can take a long time to get vehicles into the parking area, you may have to park some distance away from our field, and when the event is over and you’re ready to leave you will find yourself in the middle of a miniature traffic jam that takes a while to clear.

If you need a parking pass, you mustcontact the event steward (Alienor Salton) in advance so we can try to reserve you a pass. If you don’t have a parking pass, you will need to find on-street parking some distance away from the event and then walk back to the site.

If you’re driving from outside the city, you might want to stop at some distance from the event and look for on-street parking (or pay $25 or more for a parking lot) and then take the city subway for a few minutes to reach the site. If you know several people who are coming in separate vehicles, it may be worth the effort to meet up somewhere just outside the city where parking is easy and then car-pool in from there to reduce the parking hassle.

Location

The closest street address to the park entrance is 799 Fort Washington Ave:

The map attached below highlights some spots on this map to give you a sense of where we’ll be within the overall site area, and where the parking and transit options are.

The event attendee booklet includes a map showing the various areas within the park, drawn with East at the top of the page and the entrance to the event on the right — we’re the “South Lawn Village,” shown in gold, the first large open space after coming through the front gate.

The event officially begins at 11:30, but if you are driving gear on to the site, you should arrive before 9:30.
• 8:30 Site opens for setup, and vehicles may be driven in through main site entrance to deliver materials.
• 9:00 We unload equipment and begin setting up tents and preparing for the event.
• 10:00 All vehicles must be cleared from the park to the parking area or further away.
• 11:00 Site should be ready as members of the public sometimes start trickling in early.

The event ends at 6:00 at which point we will begin packing up:
• 6:00 We begin breaking down tents and putting things away.
• 6:30 or 7:00 Vehicles are allowed back into the park to pick up equipment once the public has dispersed.
• 8:30 Everyone must be off site by the time the park closes for the night.